Peyton Manning: Future Runs Through Duke?
Peyton Manning may be done with playing football, but would he be interested in coaching it in Durham, NC?
It’s been the week of Peyton Manning. The Denver Broncos quarterback retired off a Super Bowl win over the Carolina Panthers just Monday. There is a lot of speculation on what Manning will do next.
There are probably still more Papa Johns commercials to produce, but there won’t be any games to play.
Duke Blue Devils coach David Cutcliffe has his own feelings about what Manning should do next.
Cutcliffe said that Manning should take some time to get used to not being a football player according to reports from Chip Patterson of CBS Sports.
Cutcliffe has a special relationship to both Peyton and Eli Manning. He coached both either as an offensive coordinator at Tennessee or a head coach at Ole Miss. The Mannings come to workout at Duke in the off season with Cutcliffe so that the relationship remains strong. It has not been surprising to see them at Cameron Indoor either.
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If Peyton Manning wants to coach, it would seem an easy bet that Cutcliffe would bring him to Duke in a second. While Cutcliffe promoted Zac Roper to be offensive coordinator recently, he could find some place to stick Manning on the staff.
The question is twofold. One is does Manning want to coach? He still has young kids and maybe he does not want to move his family around right now.
The second question is whether Manning would make a good coach. Manning seemed to call every detail of the offense in Indianapolis. Of course he could do that because he had Peyton Manning at quarterback.
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Magic Johnson found coaching the Los Angeles Lakers difficult. The problem he ran into was that none of his players were Magic Johnson. They didn’t have his drive, his vision, or his basketball IQ. It was frustrating to him when he could not get them to make the decisions he would have made. Would Manning run into the same problem as less talented quarterbacks under his tutelage couldn’t see the things that Manning could?
If you look at the former players who make good coaches, they seem to be players whose playing careers were not stellar. You have guys like Ron Rivera, Jeff Fisher, Jason Garrett, Doug Pederson, and the former 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh. You could go back to Tom Landry. They are backups or starters who had to work to stay that way, not the profile of Manning.
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On the other hand you have Mike Singletary who flamed out as a coach after a Hall of Fame career. You tend to find the best players going to the desk of the NFL Network or the analyst chair. Manning would be welcomed there too if he wanted.
If Manning does decide to coach, it would be a boon if he chose to work under Cutcliffe at Duke. It would raise Duke’s profile a bit and perhaps attract more recruits. If the idea of spending four years with Peyton was not pull enough.